Mine-gate.



PATBNTED SEPT. 5, 1905.

N. K. BOWMAN.

MINE GATE.

APPLICATION FILED DBC.28,1904.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 1.

PATENTED SEPT. 5, 1905.

N. K. BOWMAN.

MINE GATE.

APPLICATION FILED DBC.28,1904.

Eu 0 9 1 5 1 P E S D E T N E T A P L. E T WA G BB m .M N

APPLICATION FILED DEO.28,1904.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 3.

UNITE STATES FATENT @FFICE.

MINE-GATE.

Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Sept. 5, 1905.

Application filed December E58, 1904. Serial No. 238,580.

tomatically operated by the cars in their travel toward and from theshaft, the purpose 1 being to insure positive and quick action of j asshown, is of the flexible type and arranged the gate and to reduce thewear and tear to the smallest amount possible, whereby early andfrequent repairs are not rendered neces- The means COUPGIZIUHQ, with thegate sary. may be divided into two kinds, each adapted to be. operatedby the moving car and having 3 a coi'iperative relation. Thegato-aetuating means effects an opening of the gate. gate-staying meansholds the, gate open and relieves the actuating means of the load andprevents movement of the gate such as would i always be occasioned byirregularities in the contact between the car and the gato-actuat- 1 itended from the pivoted arms For a full description of the invention andi ing LHQQLDS.

the merits thereof and also to acquire a knowledge of the details ofconstruction of the means for effecting the result reference is to behad to the following description and accompanying drawings.

\Vhile the invention may be adapted to differentforms and conditions bychanges in the structure and minor details without departing from thespirit or essential features therei connected to a rod or bar It bymeans of a of, still the. preferred embodiment thereof is shown in theaccompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a side elevation of amine-gate embodying the invention, parts being broken away. Fig. 2 is aview similar to Fig. 1,

showing the relation of the parts when the gate-actuating means havebeen operated to gate-staying means.

of the parts when the gate-actuating and the gate-staying means havebeen operated.

tive parts illustrated in the preceding views. Fig. 5 is a plan view ofthe counterbalance gate-holder, parts being broken away. Fig.

l) is a detail perspective view of the counter- 1 balance gate-holder,its support, and the le- The Fig. a is a to )lan view of the ate andad'unc- 1 b s l a 9 j ported midway of its ends and having its verhaving its opposite ends connected to the gate-actuating bars.

Corresponding and like parts are referred to in the followingdescription and indicated in all the views of the drawings by the samereference characters.

The track upon which the mine-cars operate in the entry, passage, ordrift is indicated at 1, and at a determinate point is erected a frameand brace 3, constituting a support for the gate or closure provided forcontrolling the air-currents. The gate or closure i may be of anyvariety generally employed in mines, and,

toopen upward in a series of folds, the upper end of the gate beingattached to the crosspiece of the support or frame. livoted arms 5 areconnected to the gate or closure 4, so as to effect positive movementthereof, particularly when opening the gate. 'lhese arms may bepivotally supported in any manner and attached to the gate in any way soas to insure positive movement thereof. The gate is counterbalanced tofacilitate movement thereof, and for this purpose weights 6 haveadjiistalde connection with rods or bars 7, e. The arms 5 are stayed bybraces'S, both being connected to plates 1), pivoted at 10.

The gate-actuating bars 11 and 12 are located upon opposite sides of theplane of the gate or closure and normally incline upward from the trackand toward the gate, so as to be depressed by a car approaching the gatein either direction. A bell-crank lever 13 has one arm connected by alink to the free end of the actuating-bar ll and its opposite arm link[5, said rod or bar it having :uljustable The bell-crank lever 13receives rod or bar H adjustaldy connected with the plate 9 the movementof the pivoted arms 5 may be adjusted to suit the hei ht of the entry orpassage. A companion bell-crank 16 has one arm connected by means of alink to the free end of the gate-actuating bar 12 and its other armconnected by rod or bar 17 to the upper end of a lever 18, pivot-allysuplower end connected to the rod or bar it. A depression of either oneof the bars 11 or 12 will effect a movement of the pivoted arms 5 and anopening of the gate or closure.

The support for the lever 18 consists of a bar 19, attached at one endto the brace 3 and provided at its opposite end with a fork 20 andlateral brackets 21, the members of the fork 20 being attached to anupright of the frame 2 and the lateral brackets 21, pivotally supportinga sleeve 22, from which project lugs to which arms 23 and 2 1 areconnected. The arm 24: has a weight 25 adjustable thereon, the sameconstituting the counterbalance for the arm 23 and the parts cooperatingtherewith. The arm 23 is the stay or holder for propping the gate whenopen and is provided at its outer end with a roller 26, having itsmounting 2'7 adjustably connected with the arm 23 to admit of properadjustment of the roller to insure firm connection with the gate whenforming a brace or prop to hold the same open. Other arms 28 and 29extend from the sleeve 22 in opposite directions and are adapted to beconnected to the operating elements of the gatestaying means.

Actuating-bars 30 and 31 are located upon opposite sides of the gate andnormally occupy a horizontal position and are pivoted or otherwiseloosely connected at their outer ends to the adjacent ends of therespective gateactuating bars 11 and 12. The inner end portion of theactuating-bar 30 is connected by means of a link to an arm of abell-crank lever 32, the other arm of said lever being connected to thearm 29 by means of a rod or analogous device 33. The inner end portionof the actuating-bar 31 is loosely connected by a link or other meanswith an arm of a bell-crank lever 34:, the other arm of said bellcrankbeing joined to the arm 28 by a rod 35 or other suitable connection. Adepression of either one of the bars 30 or 31 causes operation of thegate-staying means for holding the gate open, as indicated most clearlyin Fig. 3. I'Vhen the bars 30 and 31 are relieved of direct pressure,the counterbalance 25 predominates and returns the gate stay or holder23 and the actuating-bars 30 and 31 to a normal position.

A mine-gate embodying the invention has its parts arranged approximatelyas shown in Fig. 1 when the gate is closed, and no one of the severalactuating-bars is operated on by the moving car. On the approach of acar from either direction one or the other of the bars 11 or 12 isdepressed by contact of the wheels or other part of the car therewith.Movement is transmitted from the bar thus actuated to the remote barthrough the lever 18 and intermediate connections, and at the same timethe plate 9, connected to the bar 1 1, is turned, and the pivoted armsbeing set in motion efliect an opening of the gate, as indicated mostclearly in Fig. 2. The outer ends of the actuating-bars 30 and 31,loosely connected to the inner ends of the respective bars 11 and 12,are depressed without producing any corresponding movement of thebell-cranks 32 and 34. As soon as the approaching car reaches a positionto depress one or the other of the bars 30 or 31 the correspondingbell-crank 32 or 34 is operated and by reason of its connection to oneof the arms of the sleeve 22 causes the latter to turn and the stay orholder to be thrown upward, as indicated in Fig. 3, to sustain theweight of the gate and relieve the gate-actuating means of its load, atthe same time preventing any vibratory movement of the gate, which wouldotherwise occur if no stay or holder were provided and irregularitiesexisted in the engaging parts between the car and actuating-bars 30 and31. As soon as the car passes the gate and clears the actuating-bar 30or 31 at the remote side the stay or holder will be returned to a normalposition by the counterbalance 25 and the inner ends of the bars 30 and31 will move upward, but the gate will not close because of the load onthe remote actuating-bar 11 or 12. \Vhen the car has cleared the gateand its actuating means, the gate will automatically close by gravityand the gate-actuating means will assume a normal position.

Having thus described the invention, What is claimed as new is 1. Incombination, a gate, gate-actuating means, a stay pivoted at one end andadapted to be thrown upward at its other end to form a prop forsustaining the weight of the gate, and actuating means for positivelymoving the stay upward and downward.

2. In combination, a gate, actuating means therefor, a stay adapted tobe moved to a position for propping the gate when open, a counterbalancemovable with said stay, and operating means for positively throwing thestay into operative position against its counterbalance, the latter whenreleased automatically returning the stay and its operating means to anormal position.

3. In combination, a gate, actuating means therefor, a pivoted stay forpropping the gate when open, means for swinging the stay into supportingposition, and other means for returning the stay and its actuating meansinto normal position when relieved of the operating force.

4. In combination, a gate, an actuating-bar, means connecting saidactuating-bar with the gate, a stay for holding the gate open, and anactuating-bar for the stay having loose connection with theactuating-bar of the gate for holding the latter depressed when thestayactuating bar is operated on whereby the gateactuating bar whenacted on will not eflect operation of the stay.

5. In combination, a gate, a gate-actuating bar, connecting meansbetween said bar and gate, a stay for holding the gate open, anactuating-bar for said stay having loose connection with thegate-actuating bar, and connecting means between the stay-actuating barlIO and the stay for operating the latter after the gate has beenopened.

i). In combination, a gate, a pivoted arm therefor, a plate inconnection with said pivoted arm, actuating-bars at opposite sides ofthe gate, a lever pivoted between its ends, 1

bars connecting the end portions of said lever to the respectivegate-actuating bars, and means adyustatdy connectlng one of said bars tothe aforesaid plate for adapting the gate l and its movement todifferent sizes of openings to be closed.

T. in combination, a gate, actuating-bars arranged at opposite sides ofthe gate, a pivoted lever, connecting means between opposite endportions of the pivoted lever and said gate-actuating bars, connectingmeans between the gate and its actuating mechanism, a stay for holdingthe gate open, stay-actuating bars at opposite sides of the gate andconnected with the respective gate-actuating bars, and connecting meansbetween the stay-actuating bars and said stay for throwing the latterinto operative position after the gate has been opened.

8. In combination, a gate, pivoted actuating-bars at opposite sides ofthe gate, connecting means between the gate and its actuatingbars, astay, actu ating-bars for the stay loosely connected to the respectivegate-actuating bars, bell-crank levers having loose connection with thesaid actuating-lair, and connecting means between said bell-crank leversand the stay.

J. In combination, an upwardly-opening gate, pivoted arms therefor,actuating-bars arranged at opposite sides of the gate, bellcrank levershaving connection With said aetuatingbars and with the pivoted arms, apivoted stay for holding the gate opened, stayactuating bars havingtheir outer ends loosely connected with the inner ends of thegate-actuating bars, bell-crank levers pivotally supporting the innerend portions of the said aetuating-bars, and connecting means betweenthe last-mentioned bell-crank levers and the stay.

In testimony whereof I al'iix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

UNA O. BOWMAN, R. A. PQLLOCK.

